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This easy homemade ketchup recipe is an awesome way to use up your garden harvest. It’s savory, sweet, and tangy!
Table of Contents
- Homemade Ketchup Is a Treat
- How Long Does Homemade Ketchup Last?
- The Impressively Short Ingredient List:
- The Gist on How to Make Homemade Ketchup
- Useful Tools for This Recipe
- Recipe Tips + Tricks
- You Can Use This Ketchup Recipe in the Following Recipes:
- Have You Made This Recipe?
- Easy Homemade Ketchup Recipe
Homemade Ketchup Is a Treat
We’ve got nothing against store-bought ketchup in this house. I’m French Canadian, so that stuff is my gravy, baby.
But every year I find myself with an overabundance of cherry tomatoes from my garden and am frantically searching for cherry tomato recipes so I can use them up. Homemade ketchup is such an easy and awesome way to put them to use.
This recipe is more savory than most store-bought varieties, but it’s still got that sweetness we love. The best part is that the sweetness comes from raw honey—so you don’t have to worry about an undesirable amount of refined sugar.
I also like to simmer this good stuff with a clove—it adds depth and warmth to the flavor. Try it—you’ll see what I mean!
We love dunking the usuals into this good stuff, like air fryer French fries, chicken tenders, etc., and it’s great on burgers or in BBQ sauces.
How Long Does Homemade Ketchup Last?
This homemade ketchup recipe will keep in the fridge for about 3 weeks if sealed in an airtight container.
If you want to freeze it, store it in a freezer-friendly container and it will keep for 6 months.
The Impressively Short Ingredient List:
- Grape or cherry tomatoes
- Red wine vinegar
- Honey or agave nectar
- A full clove
- Sea salt and cracked pepper
- Worcestershire sauce
The Gist on How to Make Homemade Ketchup
- Place all of your ingredients, from the tomatoes through to the clove, into a medium-sized saucepan. Bring it to a simmer for about 25-30 minutes, or until the mixture has slightly thickened.
- Remove the clove with a slotted spoon and trash it.
- If you have an immersion blender, bring it to the saucepan and blend the mixture until it’s smooth. If you don’t have an immersion blender, transfer the mixture to a stand blender and blend it until it’s smooth.
- Strain the mixture through a sieve. Repeat to ensure a smooth ketchup.
- Finally, stir in the Worcestershire sauce.
- Transfer the ketchup to a glass jar with a lid or some kind of container, and refrigerate it until it’s cooled and thickened up a bit more.
Useful Tools for This Recipe
- Sharp knife
- Cutting board
- Saucepan
- Slotted spoon
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Immersion blender or stand blender
- Strainer
- Spoon or spatula
- Storage jars
Recipe Tips + Tricks
- You don’t have to limit yourself to grape or cherry tomatoes! I like using them because I always have a large harvest from my garden. But you can use fresh beefsteak, roma, or San Marzano if you have access to them. Just remember, the more flavorful the tomato, the more flavorful the ketchup. Be sure to avoid canned tomatoes—they won’t bring the greatest flavor.
- Feel free to play around with this recipe. You can add heat by dusting a pinch of cayenne into the mix; to add some East Asian flare, drizzle in some Sriracha sauce; for smokiness, a few dribbles of liquid smoke will do the trick.
- The ketchup will thicken up a bit as it cools in the fridge. But if you want a thicker texture, whisk two tablespoons of cornstarch into 1/4 cup of cold water. Once the ketchup has been run through the sieve twice, return the ketchup to the stove and bring to a low simmer. Slowly whisk the cornstarch mixture into the ketchup until you have the consistency you want.
You Can Use This Ketchup Recipe in the Following Recipes:
- Healthy Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Saucy Korean BBQ Beef Skewers
- Instant Pot Korean Pulled Pork
- Super Tender Ground Turkey Meatloaf
Have You Made This Recipe?
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Easy Homemade Ketchup Recipe
Ingredients
- 20 oz grape or cherry tomatoes (about 3.5 cups), cut in half
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup raw honey or agave nectar
- 1 full clove
- 1 tsp sea salt
- A few cracks of black pepper
- 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients, from the tomatoes through to the clove, to a medium saucepan. (Save the Worcestershire sauce for the end.)
- Bring the contents to a simmer over medium heat and let it cook, stirring occasionally, for approx. 25-30 minutes—until the mixture has thickened up a bit.
- With a slotted spoon, remove the clove and discard it.
- Using an immersion blender, blend the cooked tomato mixture until it's nice and smooth. If you're using a blender, carefully transfer the mixture to the blender container and blend until smooth. (Be careful when blending hot liquids. Don't overfill the blender container; if you have to blend in batches, do so.)
- Push the mixture through a sieve into a heat-safe container. For an even smoother consistency, run through the sieve a second time (recommended).
- Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, and chill before serving. The mixture will thicken up in the fridge, but if you want a thicker consistency, see the recipe notes.
I have a lot of rama tomatoes frozen, do you think they would work ?
Hi Linda—I’m sure that would work! I’d let them thaw then measure them out to 20 oz just like we do for the grape tomatoes. Please let me know how it goes!
Can this recipe be water bath canned?
Hi Rebecca! I haven’t canned this recipe, but I did a little research into this and it looks like you absolutely could. Here’s a link with canning steps for homemade ketchup that seems helpful.
This is such a great recipe and without all the preservatives! I never knew it was this easy; never buying store bought again!
Store bought ketchup is always too sweet for me. This one is wonderful!
This homemade ketchup is SO much better tasting than the bottled variety. We make this all the time!
This was a great way to use up extra tomatoes I had sitting around!! And it turned out great – so much more flavorful than store bought!
Hello. I have a question about the corn starch. Are the measures you indicate in the recipe for the quantities of tomatoes? Thanks!
Hi Sarah, the measurement for the corn starch is based on the quantity used in this recipe, yes. You may find that you don’t need to use the entirety of the slurry for thickening, and if that’s the case, you can discard the rest. Just add enough to get the consistency you desire.